


rocket ships and chocolate chips

by flavus



Category: Hamilton - Miranda
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Roommates/Housemates, Fluff, Happy Ending, How I Met Your Mother References, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Light Angst, M/M, Non-Linear Narrative, Roommates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-07
Updated: 2017-07-07
Packaged: 2018-11-28 20:02:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,427
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11425158
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flavus/pseuds/flavus
Summary: never use craigslist to find roommates, because they could be singers who have hit songs in spain like "besame con tu ----".this is a story about love that coincidentally happens to be a love story.





	rocket ships and chocolate chips

**Author's Note:**

> warnings: implied non-con, mentions of abuse, explicit sexual situations mentioned very briefly/lightly
> 
> so. uh this is a mess but i felt like posting it anyway b/c the roommates to lovers trope is my favorite

**day one**

“Whoever Craig was,” Aaron muttered under his breath, “I am never using his list to find anything again.”

Standing in front of him was a man who embodied everything Aaron tried to avoid in his daily life: optimism, general bounciness, an addiction to coffee - how he was balancing _three_ coffee cups on his arm, Aaron would never know - and a wide, genuine smile. (Okay, maybe not the addiction to coffee part. But still. Everything else.)

“I’m Alexander Hamilton, and I’m guessing you’re my new roommate? You’re the one who answered my ad on Craigslist!”

“Dear God,” and Aaron barely registered himself fainting.

-

**day one-hundred and five**

He left tea in a coffee cup on the sleeping Alex’s bedside table just to spite him, and to spite him even more, referred to him as “Hamilton” throughout the Post-it note he stuck on the tea.

To his credit, Aaron congratulated himself, at least it wasn’t decaf tea.

“Aaron fucking Burr, what have you done to my coffee and your knowledge that my name is Alex, _not_ Hamilton?” Alex came stomping out of his room, anger written all over his face.

Aaron bit back a laugh and let a smirk settle on his face instead.

“Well, your full name does contain Hamilton,” he shot back smoothly. “Plus, the neighbors can hear you. Maybe you should calm down.”

They definitely did _not_ have a pillow fight after Aaron said that.

And Aaron definitely didn’t lose.

-

**day thirty-three**

“It’s been a month and I still haven’t introduced you to my best friends,” Alex said idly as he and Aaron sat on the couch watching _The Office_.

“Aren’t I your best friend?” Aaron mock-seriously glared at him. Alex shot him a glare back and flushed a shade of red that contrasted awkwardly with his green shirt, and Aaron contemplated, very seriously, whether it was worth it to get pushed off the couch if he made a quip about how Alex looked like the embodiment of Christmas.

Nope, he was too comfortable.

“W - Well, I didn’t me-”

“Calm down, Alex. I’ll meet them if you want me to. But then again, it’s hard to meet more than one of myself, isn’t it?” He chuckled quietly to himself, and when he looked at Alex’s eyes again, he saw awe reflected back at him.

“I’ve never heard you actually laugh before.”

“Sorry, I forgot I was a robot. I’ll have to input that in my programming: Must not laugh or make jokes. May potentially kill roommate who pays half of the rent and will have to go broke paying for entire apartment.”

“Shut up,” Alex said, but he was grinning, and neither of them were paying attention to the episode anymore, and they were laughing, and it was nice.

Almost _too_ nice for Aaron.

He wondered if Alex’s friends were like Alex, vibrant and silly and absolutely horrible.

-

**day one-hundred and fifty-one**

They were absolutely knackered, Aaron knew. Drunk off their asses, because there was no way in hell he would’ve let Hercules Mulligan lay his head in his lap and swung an arm around Lafayette otherwise and stared at Alex for more than thirty seconds.

“Do you think that turtles would wear pants over their shells or under them?” John Laurens asked - or more, slurred - from his place on Alex’s shoulder.

“I think turtles can’t wear pants!” Lafayette burst out guffawing, loud and hearty, and the vibrations under Aaron’s arm made him laugh too.

“The robot has a heart,” Herc proclaimed gladly, moving to stand before he realized that he was wobbling too much to be upright. He settled for trying to lift Aaron upright, Circle of Life style, and Aaron found himself drunkenly mumbling “Ahhh, sbenyaaaaaaaaa-”

“You know, he’s cute when he’s drunk,” Alex loudly whispered to John.

“Yeah,” the other man nodded, eyes wide. “He looks like Simba. Majestic.”

Lafayette was still laughing, but his laughter segued into some weird interpretive dance thing set to Aaron’s drunken mumbling, contrasted with Alex and John’s interjections of “Circle of Life!” “Yeah, get that life!” “Africa!” “Lions!” “Wilderness!”

(It was one of the best nights Aaron had since he moved to New York.)

-

**day two**

“Are you sure you’re okay?”

Aaron couldn’t take the way Alex hovered over him like he was something delicate.

“I’m _fine_ , Alexander,” he said, exasperated. “I was just - shocked at the house.” Shocked that my roommate was someone like you, he almost said, but then reminded himself that this was the person who was paying half of the rent of an apartment in New York. So.

“O- _kay_ ,” Alex said, drawing out the second syllable, then plopping into the seat across from Aaron at the table.

“So you’re a - what? I don’t think you talked about it when you sent me a message,” he said, turning his face toward Aaron’s eagerly.

“Please, it’s, uh, it’s classified,” Aaron mumbled, eager to turn the conversation back to Alex. “You’re a journalist, right?”

That was enough to get Alex talking for what felt like eons, and Aaron sat back in his chair and decided he would teach himself how to fall asleep with his eyes open.

-

**day ninety**

“I have no idea how you found this, but I’m not even going to question it because this may just be the greatest thing since we discovered Lafayette was a hand model.”

“Mon ami, John, I love you, but please shut up.”

“All of you shut up, otherwise he’s going to hear this! Herc, put the DVD in the laptop.”

“Done and done.”

“Holy shit, is that a _leather bodysuit_? And an astronaut helmet?”

“It’s definitely not hiding anything, and I can tell that’s real leather. It was probably defiled after this video.”

“I never thought I would live to see the day where Alex was doing the sprinkler in a leather bodysuit, and to think, this was for a kid’s show. How could they sleep at night?”

“Aaron, my eyes are ruined, _sacre bleu_ -”

“Stop complaining, Laf, unless you want us to put on the commercials where you were the hand model!”

“I had no idea Alex was such a talented rapper. And that rhyme - ‘rocket ship’ and ‘chocolate chip’ was, uh, very illuminating.”

“He’s talented with other things, too.”

“John, I don’t need that right now, so could you kindly just shut your mouth and enjoy the terrible dancing? At least that bodysuit - oh, sorry, ‘astronaut’ costume - is perfectly tailored.”

“NASA? More like nasty - hey, Laf, why’d you elbow me?”

“It’s pretty catchy, guys. Not gonna lie.”

“On my rocket ship, I don’t have to worry about cookies since we only have chocolate chip - mmf -”

“Aaron, he’s coming, shush!”

“Why are you guys up so early? And what are you watchi - Oh, shit."

“You can rock my ship any time you want, Alex.”

“John, in my defense, that show only ran for one season, and nobody remembers it anymore.”

“But we all do, now, thanks to Aaron!”

“Looks like tonight I suffer death at the hands of Alex.”

**day two hundred**

-

“Fuck, this is a really bad idea, fuck, fuck, fuck-” Aaron couldn’t breathe, couldn’t see anything but the outline of Theo, and years of making her favorite omelettes (he still couldn’t eat eggs, pretended he was allergic), of kissing her senseless whenever he could, of talking about everything and nothing (he didn’t like talking anymore, didn’t - ) followed him around, pounding in his head, but he followed her anyway.

(She’s not here, she’s not here, she’s -)

“Aaron, wait!” Alex.

He walked faster, ignored the fact it was raining, ignored the fact that he _knew_ he wasn’t chasing the real Theodosia, and he could feel himself shaking.

(She was here and then she wasn’t and she left she left she left and then she just - and the same thing would happen to Alex, he pushed him away and then he would be lying there, no animation in his features and - )

Somehow, Alex caught up to him, and Aaron could feel the hand on his back, put there gingerly, and Alex was rubbing his back, and Aaron choked back a sob.

“Can you walk me back?” he whispered, breaths coming out in heavy fast puffs he hated that he couldn’t control. “Just - I need someone here right now, I’m sorry it had to be you, I’m sorry I yelled at you, I just - I’m sorry, I’m sorry -”

“Shh, it’s okay, it’s okay. I’m right here. Let’s go home.”

**day fifty**

-

“Do you want to talk about it?” Alex stared intently at Aaron’s face, and he felt like he was under a microscope.

“No, I don’t want to talk about finishing _Mario Kart_ in twelfth place for the ninth time in the past two hours,” he grumbled, squirming. “I just haven’t played it in a while, okay?”

“Do you want to play again?”

Aaron almost choked.

“Uh, me, right?” he stammered out.

“No, I was talking to the lamp over yonder,” Alex deadpanned. “Yeah, of course, you!”

“Fine, but we’re racing in Coconut Mall.”

-

**day one-hundred and sixty**

“You can’t just tell me that I can’t bring John in here when things get frisky when you bring your one-night stands here all the time! You basically have a Macy’s Thanksgiving parade at our doorstep, and I’m asking you for one thing that you, for some reason you don’t want to explain, can’t give me?” Alex was livid, and his hands were flying up in the air, eyes blazing, and ---

\-- and Aaron had to bite back what he wanted to say, “I bring them here because they aren’t Theodosia, and they aren’t you, and I need to forget how in love you are with John when you’re the only one who’s ever made me feel this alive, so I fuck them but I think of you under me and over me, and sometimes when you wake up and your hair is messed up and sticking to one side of your face and your voice is rusty and you’re wearing your glasses I want to be the one who kisses you till you see stars,” --

“I’m sorry,” he muttered. “I - I don’t know why I said that. I’ll just - I’ll go. Let me know when John’s in the apartment, then,” Aaron said stiffly. (So I can avoid you and him for as long as I can, so I can come in at 3 a.m. drunk and forget that you don’t care for me the way I wish you did.)

“Wait, Aaron -”

-

**day three-hundred and ten**

“Hey.”

“Hey. Long day at work?” Alex scooted over to sit next to Aaron on the fire escape, their legs dangling over the edge, staring out at the city.

A small smile flitted across Aaron’s face. “Please. How’d you know?”

“You never come up here unless your work day was stressful as fuck,” Alex chuckled. “The work you still won’t tell me about, by the way,” he quipped, gently elbowing Aaron.

“I really miss Theodosia on days like these,” Aaron blurted out, wanting to avoid talking about his work (and the government and negotiations and having to be diplomatic, having to plaster a facade on his face every day, but wasn’t he doing that still, pretending he didn’t like --).

“You know, I just - I don’t even miss her that much, most days,” he whispered. Looked down at his hands, saw them trembling. “It’s just - knowing she would be there for me, no matter what. And she was so full of life, so full of energy, and every conversation I had with her felt like coming home. When I talked about work stress, she’d give me a massage and hand me a cup of hot tea and we’d just sit together and I felt like I could breathe, y’know?”

And then Aaron found himself telling Alex the whole story. How they’d met, the first time Aaron lived in New York, when he quite literally collided into her as she was rushing to class - she was a junior when he was a freshman and he was so taken with her. And how they’d tumbled into this quiet domestic intimacy, meeting up for coffees, and she’d begun to stay over, but it was one night when he noticed the ring. Then he couldn’t do it anymore, couldn’t live with the knowledge that when he was making love to her he was fucking someone over, and sometimes the thought of it still made him feel dirty and sick and _wrong_ , even though he loved her and she said she loved him too (even though she didn’t leave her boyfriend for him).

How two months after they’d broken it off, somewhere in the middle of Aaron’s senior year of college, she was hit by a drunk driver and killed immediately, and Aaron never had the chance to say goodbye. That was when he’d left for California, and it took him five years to want to come back. (The job helped.) How he sometimes still had nightmares of the crash, nightmares of the day when he found out that she was engaged to someone else, someone he’d never met but wanted to be anyway.

When he finished the story, he could feel himself tight with worry, panting lightly, and even though it made him choke up, he also felt some relief mixed in with the tremors. Knowing that someone knew. Aaron held tightly onto the railing, and Alex reached over, pulled Aaron to his side, and held him tightly.

That night, Aaron asked if Alex could sleep next to him, and they fell asleep the same way they’d been on the fire escape, Alex clutching Aaron and Aaron learning how to forget.

It’s not cheating if he only likes you as a friend, Aaron scolded himself. It’s not.

-

**day two-hundred and twenty**

“I think Aaron likes you,” Hercules whispered loudly to Alex, and Aaron felt his world stop for a beat before he realized that, because he was the designated driver, he was the only one who wasn’t drunk.

“Nah, that’s bullshit,” Alex chortled, and it made Aaron’s heart clench when the other man leaned over to kiss John, who had near-literal hearts shooting out of his eyes.

“I’m just gonna go to the restroom,” he said smoothly. “Maybe the next time I come back I’ll have someone good-looking on my arm, not like you dorks,” he laughed, forcing a wink.

In the bathroom, Aaron let himself breathe. Inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale. Alex is happy, inhale, don’t think about ruining his happiness, exhale. It’s going to be okay, inhale, you could always move out if you wanted to, exhale.

(Alex was looking for you when you left, Laf said to him, and Aaron crumbled all over again.)

-

**day four-hundred and one**

“I don’t understand,” Alex huffed. “Why are you still here if you can pay for your own apartment? I mean, after we finally learned where you work - _please,_ I finally got that acronym, you’re basically swimming in money from both your fake and real jobs!”

“I’m here for you, for being able to be around you every day, even though you’re incredibly annoying and terrible and a dork, because you smell like coffee and you look like home,” Aaron said, or at least he wished he did.

Instead, he elbowed Alex.

“What would you do without me?”

(He didn’t see the way Alex looked at him, like he needed Aaron. Alex didn’t see the way Aaron looked back.)

-

**day seventy**

“I bet you ten dollars that you can’t say ‘That’s what she said’ at an...appropriate time on the news.”

Aaron sat back smugly and waited for Alex’s response.

“Of course I wouldn’t take up that bet! I’m a journalist! I have integrity,” he said, hands on hips.

“Integrity for the two am local newsreel?” he shot back dryly.

“Yeah,” Alex said, voice faltering. “Okay, okay, _fine_ ,” he groaned. “I’ll do it,” his eyes flashed with a challenge, “If you up it to one hundred.”

“Only if you laugh every time someone says ‘balls.’”

“Not fair! I’ll say ‘nipple,’” Alex conceded grudgingly.

Aaron raised an eyebrow at him. “Sure. We’ll see how that goes.”

-

**day seventy-one**

When Alex is looking at him, triumphant, with a hand outstretched for his one hundred dollars, Aaron feels his heart catch in his throat.

Well, shit.

-

**day three-hundred and forty**

Aaron’s gotten used to the sound of Alex and John fucki - no, _making love_ , he corrects himself, because they’re in love, they’re so in love and -

“John, I just - you make me feel so _stifled_ , like I have to want everything you want in this plan that you have for you to be happy with me!”

“Alex -”

“No, hear me out, John. I feel like I’m just a pawn for you. Like you’re using me so you can have your picture-perfect family, and I know you care about me, but I -” -- sharp inhale -- “- can’t do this anymore. I _can’t_ , John. We’re better off as friends.”

Silence, and then --

“I know. I’m just lonely, and I can’t help but reach out for you because, because you’re there, and I’m never going to find ‘the one,’” -- sobs -- “and I don’t know what to do.”

“You’re still one of my best friends, John. You always will be. And I don’t know where that person is, but they will come. They will.”

“Just hold me, one last time?”

“Yeah. Yeah, of course.” Shuffling, and then Aaron puts his pillow over his head because he feels _everything_ , and he hates that he feels happy because Alex is free, but he’s also worried because John is his friend too and he wants John to be happy and he wants Alex to be happy and he’s just confused and maybe sleep will solve that.

(After Aaron falls asleep:

“I’ve seen the way you look at him, you know.”

“Who?”

“You know who I’m talking about, Alex.” A chuckle. “I see you looking guiltily at your hands, at the scar you got that one time when he accidentally spilled coffee on you.”

“I just - it’s hopeless, you know? He doesn’t - he doesn’t - he brings home girls and guys half the time. He still misses Theodosia.”

“He looks at you the way you look at him.”

“You’re blind, John. Go to sleep, you nerd.” A sigh, then silence again.)

-

**day two-hundred and eighty-seven**

“You have to be my laser tag partner, Aaron.”

“I’m with Hercules! We are the best team.” Hercules gave Aaron a salute as the five of them - him, Aaron, Alex, Laf, and John - walked to the laser tag place they’d come to frequent. “Aye, aye, captain. Always here to serve.”

“Fine,” Alex pouted. “Well, me and John will be partners, and Laf? Whose team do you want to be on?”

Laf exaggeratedly shifted his eyes back and forth, back and forth, and Aaron stifled a laugh. “Come over here, you French buffoon, you know you can’t resist us,” he winked, and Laf flounced over to join them, resulting in an over-the-top aghast look from Alex.

“This is betrayal. Betrayal of the highest order!” he gasped.

“Well, you would’ve lost anyway, mon ami,” Laf rolled his eyes. “They just want me on their team because I’m such a cheerful presence.”

“Bullshit, Laf, you’re the best shooter we have,” Hercules laughed, a full-bellied thing that reminded Aaron of Alex, just a little. “Is everyone ready?”

“Ready to win,” Alex grunted. Then they were off, and everything became a blur of lights and sounds until finally, it was only Alex against Aaron.

“I know you’re behind me, Aaron. I can hear you,” Alex whispered.

“But am I?” Swooping down from in front of Alex, from his perch on one of the fake rocks, Aaron aimed his laser straight at Alex, who went down. Aaron followed suit, because apparently he’d forgotten that momentum existed, and suddenly their faces were inches from each other.

For a moment, Alex imagined what it would be like, to close the gap and brush his lips against Aaron’s, but Aaron pulled away with an unreadable look in his eyes and went to rejoin his team.

“Good game,” Alex called, still on the ground.

“Good game,” Aaron returned, smiling.

(It could’ve been better if we kissed.)

-

**day three-hundred and fifty**

“So you told me about you and Theodosia, and uh,” Alex swallowed, “I think I want to tell you about my family,” he said, fidgeting, voice falling almost to a whisper.

They were eating breakfast, and Aaron almost paused in the middle of stuffing Cheerios -- no milk, because soggy cereal was not his thing -- in his mouth, but tried to act normal so Alex would keep going.

“When I was younger, uh, my dad always wanted a girl. He wanted someone to spoil, someone to - to fuck around with. And when I was born, my dad - he beat my mom. He treated her like shit,” Alex paused to take a breath, his words coated in tears that hadn’t come out yet, and Aaron reached across the table to put his hand on Alex’s own.

“I - he - he beat me too, he yelled at me for even the stupidest things, and I just - I wanted to get _out,_  I wanted to get out before I was old enough to realize that I wanted to escape, and one day, uh, when I tried to run - packed up everything important, food and clothes and my laptop in a blanket that I made a rucksack - he, he ra-”

Aaron went over to the other side of the table and hugged Alex, as if he could absorb all the sorrow in the world from him.

“You’re amazing just the way you are. And you didn’t deserve that shit, and you’re - you’re the best,” he stuttered out, and grabbed Alex’s hand, which was shaking. (I’m going to hold this until the tremors pass to me and you feel like you can breathe.)

-

**day four-hundred and thirty-five**

Somehow, Aaron marveled, things weren’t awkward between John and Alex anymore. Because both of them were sitting next to each other, Alex flanking Aaron and John next to Alex, while Herc and Laf were perched on the rundown couch in Alex’s apartment.

“I can’t believe we’re watching this,” Alex grumbled.

“Hey, you forced us to watch all of the commercials where I was a hand model, mon ami. And there were a lot, so call this - how you say - _payback_ ,” Laf smirked, a devilish gleam in his eye.

John snorted. “This should be fun,” he laughed. “A complete one-eighty from uh, your days making children’s music.”

Alex flushed red as the video started to play.

“Shit, Alex, this actually looks _recent._ ”

“It’s from six years ago!”

“At least you don’t look like you’ve aged a bit,” Herc laughed, elbowing Alex.

 _Oh_ , Aaron gulped when Alex started dancing...very suggestively in the middle of his rap. Even though the verses weren’t about sex, thinking about Alex with his hips moving back and forth made Aaron’s mouth dry, and he thanked himself for wearing sweats. (He’d had to get so many pairs after moving in with Alex. Too many pairs to the point that he was either in a suit or in sweats, no in between.)

Before they knew it, the video was done.

“You know, I thought the kids one was bad, but this one is the worst. I feel like I went to a club for the entire day and saw unspeakable things,” Laf chuckled.

“Hey, I had to revamp my image, okay.”

“And you’re a journalist?” Herc said incredulously.

“The song was a hit in _Spain_ , not the United States!”

“Fair enough, Mr. _Besame con su pene."_ John winked, and Aaron had to smile at all of their antics.

These were the people he wanted to be friends with for the rest of his life, he thought, rolling his eyes because for that thought alone, he was already probably batshit crazy.

-

 ~~**day four hundred and thirty-six** ~~ **day one**

“Back up here, huh? It’s three a.m., you know.” Alex sat at the familiar spot on the fire escape, next to Aaron, who was looking at the stars.

“Couldn’t sleep,” Aaron whispered.

“Me neither,” Alex shrugged, and threw an arm over Aaron’s shoulder.

“Are you drunk?” Aaron asked, shocked. He didn’t understand the sudden intimacy from Alex, although - come to think of it, they were always touching. Little things, like falling asleep on each others’ shoulders when they watched Netflix on the couch, or brushing each others’ hands when over the coffeepot to each other over the table.

“Drunk on life,” Alex smirked.

“That’s an old joke, just like you.”

“Are you making fun of my age? I’m only one year older than you.”

“Don’t remind me.” Next to him, Aaron could feel Alex fidgeting. “You’re nervous,” he said, not a question but a statement.

“No?” Alex’s voice came out more high-pitched than usual, and Aaron chuckled, a warm and low sound that brought Alex to his knees. “Well - I - there’s something I’ve been wanting to do,” Alex admitted, hearing his heart pound in his ears.

“What, make another music video? Maybe bake some chocolate chip cookies?” Aaron quipped, confused as to where Alex was heading with things.

“For the latter, shut up, but for the former - if the music video stars you, I would never be opposed,” Alex murmured, and leaned in to brush Aaron’s lips against his before Aaron knew what was happening (a question, one Aaron's body knew the answer to before Aaron did because suddenly his lips were taking, taking, taking, days and days they’d lost to other people, and the taste of coffee and cinnamon on Alex’s lips was intoxicating). Alex slid his hands down to Aaron’s hips, and for a second, Aaron expected Alex to try to take things farther, but instead he kept them firmly around Aaron’s waist and pulled his lips away.

“Do you want to dance?” Alex asked, timidly, tenderly.

“With you, always.”

So Alex took Aaron’s hands in his, and they swayed back and forth underneath the stars, and Alex looked at Aaron with such hope and warmth that Aaron wondered how he didn’t drown.

Later that morning, Aaron was finally able to understand what it was like, kissing Alex senseless after they’d woken up.

(In the middle of kissing, Aaron felt his mouth stretch wide in a real smile, one Alex mirrored, and they were laughing, teeth to teeth, and Aaron thought: _God, I love this man_.

It was everything he’d hoped for and more.)

**Author's Note:**

> \- inspired by (500) days of summer, himym, and seinfeld  
> \- non-linear narrative inspired by 5dos  
> \- "please" is the character barney's job in himym, where he works for a big banking company but is actually conspiring with the govt to bring down his corrupt boss (it stands for provide legal exculpation and sign everything)  
> \- the dares from aaron to alex to say inappropriate shit during a broadcast were also inspired by an episode of himym i can't remember  
> \- aaron - barney // alex - robin (but obviously not perfectly they were just influences on how i shaped the characters)  
> \- "hand model" is a reference to george in seinfeld being a hand model bc i just remembered that and thought it was wild
> 
> :-) hope you enjoyed [p.s. kudos & comments give me life tysm]! if you want to talk hamilton/musicals/fic, etc, my tumblr is sillyhypotheticals.tumblr.com.


End file.
